The cinema and theatre business had been in terminal decline since the mid 1950s, leaving a surfeit of empty premises, and although many were destroyed, bingo helped prolong the lives of others, long enough for the imporance of the structures to be recognised. Bingo wasn't the only new lease of life old cinemas and theatres took on - others were converted to showrooms, garages, snooker halls, bowling alleys and skating rinks. But many of these alternate uses involved a great deal of internal destruction and alteration, a serious issue when most cinemas were just as important for their internal decoration as their external. Moreover, many of these other uses failed commercially, leaving the buildings vunerable again.

In the early years, bingo games could be launched in a former cinema with little or no alteration, which also meant that film showings could continue, alternating with bingo sessions. The majority of the time, bingo eventually usurped film shows altogether.

With the introduction of prize bingo to the clubs, a common modification was to remove the original tip up seating from the stalls to make way for seating with tables. This made it easier for the bingo player, and allowed coin slots to be conveniently placed within the player's reach. The stalls floor was often levelled at the same time, but circles usually retained their seating.

In some clubs, the circle was all but obsolete, and was sometimes closed off by means of a false ceiling over the stalls. When this has happened, it means that the upstairs has almost certainly missed out on decades of unsympathetic refurbishment, and probably retains a good measure of the original design. After the launch of the National Lottery in 1994, many bingo companies became anxious about presenting a more modern image, which led to the removal of original features in favour of bland new fittings, but thankfully by then many of the more important buildings had received listed status.

Bingo is on the decline now, in land based clubs at least, which is going to leave a lot more buildings vunerable to redevelopment. Such large buildings are expensive to repair, and a leaking roof or poor decorative order can be enough to condemn them. Sadly it looks like a whole new phase of destruction is being set in motion.